Mannheim Audio Tours

Mannheim is the only city in Germany where the streets in the historic centre have no names. They are organised into a strict grid and identified by a combination of letters and numbers: you might meet someone at the corner of G7 and F6, and this is not an address but a place. The grid dates to 1606 when Frederick IV of the Palatinate built a fortress here, and the internal plan of the fort was simply retained when the streets opened to public use. The nickname Quadratestadt, the square city, is both accurate and affectionate.

The Mannheim Palace, built between 1720 and 1760 when the Palatine electors moved their residence here, is the second largest Baroque palace complex in Europe after Versailles, extending for 445 metres along the Rhine side of the old city.

It now houses the University of Mannheim and is partly open to visitors. The Jesuitenkirche on Parade-Platz is the finest Baroque church in the city and one of the most impressive in southwest Germany. Much of the historic city was destroyed in World War II and rebuilt with post-war practicality, but the grid plan survived.